Fudging

According to a recent Bloomberg News survey, researchers for the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine asked people to answer two easy questions: How tall are you? How much do you weigh? After considering the responses, researchers concluded that people lie. Gender differences play a role: Women want to be lighter, and they lie about their weight. Men want to be taller, and they lie about their height.

It’s true that we like to fudge when using the scale. Personally, I like to weigh myself after an hour in the Jacuzzi. That takes off two pounds, not to return until breakfast!

In some states, health officials find that estimates about the number of obesity cases are 50 percent too low. A public health official says discreetly, “There is some intentional bias, one can safely speculate.”